Sabegn, a leather workshop and storefront in Addis Ababa co-founded in 2008 by sisters Elsa and Eyerusalem Hadera, employs about 30 leather workers and has worked with some 70 artisan suppliers, Pioneers Post reported ahead of the Social Enterprise World Forum in Ethiopia.
Pouches made from Ethiopian leather, January 2025 (Sindugab, Wikimedia Commons, CC0) [file photo]
The shop sells own-brand shoes, purses and bags beside artworks and products from other makers. Export markets in the United States and Norway then generated about 70 percent of revenue; the company was looking at Germany and had just opened an online store. Roughly 80 percent of walk-in customers were foreigners—expats and tourists—while staff tried to win Ethiopian buyers with traditional fabrics in modern cuts.
Suppliers display goods on consignment and are paid only when items sell; Sabegn adds a margin of about 70 percent before taxes. Strategic manager Abrham Meressa Reda said the team coaches first-time sellers on branding, framing, packaging and market research and encourages them to sell under their own names. Leather workers, often college graduates new to export standards, are paid up to three times the industry average, the company said, with women especially encouraged.
The name Sabegn means “attracted” in Amharic. The sisters said their mother trained household staff into better-paying roles in the family jewellery business—a model they try to follow. Sabegn donates 1 percent of income monthly to an orphanage and had only recently begun paying the founders a salary.
Sources: Pioneers Post